Vest



Dec. 14, 1954 G. s. WORCESTER VEST 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 25, 1953 [raven tor, Gurdan Sa Ztoms'taZZ wrwster;

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Dec. 14, 1954 G. s. WORCESTER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 VEST Filed Feb. 25, 1953 my. a.

United States Patent VEST Gurdon Saltonstall Worcester, Boston, Mass.

Application February 25, 1953, Serial No. 338,676

2 Claims. (Cl, 2-102) This invention relates to an improved vest and more particularly concerns a novel four-way reversible vest, especially for men, which, in a single garment, may display four totally different designs, the vest nevertheless being tailored to body-fitting form no matter in which way it is worn and being simple to put on or remove.

It has heretofore been proposed to provide a reversible vest showing two patterns and consisting of a single front section comprising a pair of panels with different designs on each side, the garment being capable of being turned inside out so that these two panels may be worn either side to the front. However, so far as I am aware, it has never been proposed or it has been thought not to be feasible to construct a vest including a rear section likewise composed of a pair of symmetrical panels so finished on all sides and arranged that it may be worn with either the front section or the rear section displayed at the front of the wearer and also reversible so that either side of either section may be displayed at the front.

It is an object of my invention to provide such a fourway reversible vest which will be snug fitting no matter in which way worn and easy to put on or remove.

It is a further object of the invention to provide such a novel garment including a variety of optional fastening means connecting the panels of each pair to each other.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a four-way reversible vest which may be of the slip-over variety which nevertheless will fit properly at the shoulders without danger of slipping and which likewise will be snug fitting at the waist.

In accordance with the invention, my novel four-way reversible vest comprises a front section and a rear section, each optionally displaying a different design on each side thereof. Each section consists of a pair of symmetrical panels which are either permanently joined or connected to each other at the center by aligned joining means such as functional buttons or sewing. Each front panel is connected to the corresponding rear panel at the shoulders and at the sides leaving arm holes and a neck opening. The side joints beneath the arm holes are connected by fastening means which permit separation thereof on at least one side to at least a limited degree to permit removal of the garment over the chest and shoulders of the wearer when the vest is of the slip-over variety. This connecting means mav take the form of either an elastic panel or a slide fastener which comes completely apart, permitting separation of the adjacent marginal portions of the front and rear panels. The shoulder joints likewise include connecting means which permit separation thereof at least to a limited degree, such joining means preferably comprising elastic panels similar to those used to join the side portions. The elasticity of these shoulder panels draws the corresponding front and rear panels toward each other, holding them snugly on the shoulders of the wearer and reducing the danger of side slippage which otherwise might occur 2,696,617 Patented Dec. 14, 1954 stitching so that the vest will be a slip-over or, optionally, I may provide functional button holes with functional buttons attached to the appropriate marginal portions of each panel. Further optionally, I may provide button holes with a functional linked pair of buttons insertable therethrough or I may join the pairs of panels by stitching with through and through button holes adaptable to hold a pair of ornamental, linked, nonfunctional buttons.

The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages will become apparent from the following detailed description of presently preferred embodiments of the invention taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which like numerals refer to like parts in the several views and in which Fig. l is a front view of one form of my novel fourway vest;

Fig. 2 is a side view of the same;

Fig. 3 is a front view of the vest turned inside out;

Fig. 4 is a side view of the vest as shown in Fig. 3

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary front view of a slightly modified form embodying a lapel capable of concealment;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view on line 66 of Fig. I;

Fig. 7 is a side view of a portion of a modified form of the vest according to the invention including a slide fastener underneath the arm hole;

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on line 88 of Pig. 1; and 7 Figs. 9-11 are views corresponding to that of Fig. 8 of a variety of modified means for joining each pair of panels to each other at the center.

Referring first to Figs. '14, it will be observed that my novel four-way vest comprises a front section, indicated generally by the numeral 12, and a rear section,

' indicated generally by the numeral 14. The front section because of the deep V cutting of the neck portions at comprises two symmetrical panels 16 and 18 and the rear section likewise comprises two symmetrical panels '20 and 22. A different design may be placed on each side of each pair of panels. In the drawings the front and back of each panel has been lined to indicate a'different color as illustrative of the different designs which may be used. For example, with the vest worn as shown in Fig. 1, the front section 12 is blue with a gray lapel, whereas in Fig. 3 the reverse side of the front section is displayed in gray with a blue lapel. As indicated in Figs. 2 and 4, the garment, in addition to being turned inside out, may simply be reversed, thereby displaying the design on the rear section 14 which is lined for yellow or gold or with the vest both reversed and turned inside out, the color brown would be displayed.

Preferably, each panel is provided with pockets 24 which are displayed in proper locations no matter which side of which section of the garment is worn to the front, and further, optionally as shown in Fig. 6, two or more of the pockets 24 may include a tab or flap 26 which is attached above the through and through opening 28 and may be shifted through the opening 28 to be displayed on either side of that section.

Each front panel is connected to the corresponding rear panel at the shoulders and at the sides so as to form arm holes 30 and a neck opening 32 which is cut in a deep V on both sides of the garment. In one form of the invention, the two front panels are permanently joined to each other and the two rear panels are also permanently joined to each other. In this form of the invention the vest must be slipped over the head of the wearer. In order that the slip-over vest may be snug fitting and properly tailored to body-fitting form, the joints beneath the arm holes 30 must be yieldable or separable, at least to a limited degree, to facilitate removing the same over the chest, shoulders and head of the wearer. For this purpose I provide elastic panels 34 on both sides of the garment. Furthermore, preferably I also provide elastic panels 36 at each shoulder joint to permit yielding separation of the joined panels to a limited extent and to hold the shoulder portions against slipping off the shoulders.

Optionally, in place of the elastic side panels 34, I

0 provide a slide fastener 38 on one side as shown in Fig.

7. Preferably, this slide fastener is of the type which Completely separates and in which the tab 40 may be swung either way to permit gripping thereof no matter which way the garment is worn.

As shown in lugs. 8-ll, each pair of panels may be joined to each other in a variety of different ways, either with functional buttons or simulated buttons and with or without button holes. As shown in Fig. 8, for example, the marginal portions of the panels 16 and 18 overlap each other and are appropriately seamed and are permanently attached by sewing the two buttons 42 to each other through the overlapped material. In this form the vest is a slip-over and to permit putting the garment on and off, a yielding connection in the side joints beneath the arm holes is essential.

In the embodiment of 1 1g. 9, the buttons 42 are functional and are buttoned through button holes 44 and 46 in the panels 16 and 18 respectively.

Fig. 10 generally corresponds with Fig. 9 except that the buttons are not attached to the panels and instead the button holes 44 and 46 are placed adjacent each other and the buttons 42 linked to each other by a chain 48 serve to connect the panels.

Still a fourth form is shown in Fig. 11 in which the panels 16 and 18 are permanently joined to each other by stitching 50 and the button holes 44 and 46 are superposed upon each other. An ornamental linked fastener, which is non-functional, consisting of buttons 42 and a chain 48, is passed through the holes 44 and 46. An advantage of the form shown in Fig. 11 is that the linked buttons may be removed from that section which is to be worn at the rear to avoid any lumpy appearance in the back of the coat which is worn over the vest. Furthermore, the embodiments which employ removable buttons permit a choice of different ornamental buttons for different occasions.

In the embodiment of Fig. 5, the lapel 52 is shown folded underneath the two panels 16 and 18. The lapel thus may optionally be displayed or concealed by the wearer of my novel vest.

While I have disclosed and described presently preferred embodiments of the invention, it is apparent that various modifications and changes may be made therein by those skilled in the art, nevertheless within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

Iclaim:

1. A four-way reversible vest comprising a front section and a rear section tailored to body-fitting form, each section consisting of a pair of symmetrical panels inseparably joined to each other at the center and cut at the neck and finished so that either section may be worn either side to the front, each front panel being separably joined to the corresponding rear panel at the shoulders and at the sides, leaving an open neck portion and arm holes, the marginal shoulder portions of the corresponding front and rear panels being separable at least to a limited degree to facilitate slipping the vest over the head of the wearer, and the marginal side portions of at least one pair of corresponding front and rear panels being separable at least to a limited degree to facilitate slipping the vest over the chest and shoulders of the wearer, the marginal central portions of each pair of panels overlapping each other and carrying at least one vertically arranged row of buttons on each side.

2. A four-way reversible vest comprising a front section and a rear section tailored to body-fitting form, each section consisting of a pair of symmetrical panels inseparably joined to each other at the center and cut at the neck and finished so that either section may be worn either side to the front, each front panel being separably joined to the corresponding rear panel at the shoulders and at the sides leaving an open neck portion and arm holes, the marginal shoulder portions of the corresponding front and rear panels being separable at least to a limited degree to facilitate slipping the vest over the head of the wearer, and the marginal side portions of at least one pair of corresponding front and rear panels being separable at least to a limited degree to facilitate slipping the vest over the chest and shoulders of the wearer, the marginal central portions of each pair of panels overlapping each other and being provided with matching series of button holes in superposed relation each adapted to receive a pair of buttons linked together.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 69,216 Huntington Sept. 24, 1867 714,767 Wood Dec. 2, 1902 1,224,704 Berger May 1, 1917 1,647,656 Olsen Nov. 1, 1927 1,927,179 Levinsohn Sept. 19, 1933 2,174,831 Muller Oct. 3, 1939 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 558,333 France May 23, 1923 

